Chryed Absence
by Mushroom Hair
Summary: Makes the heart..


"Sorry Sy, I can't hear you very well. Yeah Simon, get me another.."

Syed frowned and struggled not to ask who Simon was.

"Who's Simon?" He hit his forehead with his palm and winced.

"One of the guys on the course. He's done so well, a star pupil. Really embracing a whole new fitness regime."

Syed pulled a face at his mobile phone and thought angrily;

'I bet he bloody is.'

"Are you in a bar?"

He wanted to kick himself for sounding tetchy.

There was a slight hiss on the other end of the line as Christian took a small intake of breath.

"Might be. But it is the last night, they deserve it."

Syed tried to back pedal.

"Of course, yes, just I thought a fitness course it would be all wheatgrass shakes and alfalfa.."

"Alf who? Listen I'd better go. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Shall I meet you at the station?" Syed asked hopefully.

"Nah, don't worry. I'll be back around tea time."

"What would you like for your.."

Syed slumped back onto the sofa, deflated, as the line went dead. Looking sadly at the blank screen he muttered;

"…tea."

* * *

"Hello Syeeed, you look a bit laden down. Did you buy the shop?"

Jane smiled brightly at him as he struggled up to his front door, unsuccessfully trying to balance five carrier bags, all full to bursting. He dropped them onto the pavement and she bent to retrieve a tin of tomatoes that had managed to escape.

"Thank you!"

He balanced it on top of some spaghetti and rubbed the sore red rings that crossed his hands, cut into by the plastic handles.

"Is he back tonight then?"

She noticed the sudden light in his eyes fondly.

Syed's heart quickened, flustered he fished around in his jeans pocket for the keys.

"Yes he is."

He unlocked the door and she helped him take the bags into the hallway.

"I expect you've missed him. I'm certain he's missed you."

Syed wasn't so sure. Every time he had called, Christian had seemed in a hurry to get away, had a class to get to, needed an early night.

He managed to fix a grin on his face and nodded.

"I hope so. Do you want to come up?"

Jane shook her head.

"You've probably got a lot to do. A mountain of cooking from the look of all this shopping! Anyway Ian's waiting for me to do another shift in the café. Tell Christian to come over and tell me all about it. When you've finished with him of course."

She winked and Syed felt his stomach lurch with embarrassment. He waved as she set off across the square and heaved the groceries up the stairs and dumped them in the kitchen. He wanted to make Christian's favourite meal for his return, but he had so many Syed didn't want to choose the wrong one. He could feel himself stressing and looked anxiously at his watch.

'Christian's train should get in at six thirty, the tube will take another forty five minutes, he'll probably be starving after a week of training corpulent corporate businessmen, best cook everything I've bought.'

Syed tipped up a bag and let the contents scatter across the floor.

* * *

Syed checked the clock on the dvd player again. It hadn't changed since the last time he'd done it, even though that seemed like a lifetime ago.

" Eight thirty." Syed's voice sounded loud in the silence of the darkened flat. He began to worry if candles had been a good idea, scared that Christian might think it too cheesy. He had turned the cooker down to the lowest setting, but if he didn't come home soon, the meal would be ruined. He glanced again at the time. The red numbers had only flicked over by a minute.

Syed stood up purposefully, angry now. If Christian wasn't home in the next five minutes, he decided, he would throw the meal out of the window, or better still at his head. He made to blow out one of the candles and heard a key in the lock downstairs.

* * *

"Hey."

Christian stood in the flickering light and dropped his cases.

Syed waited anxiously for a crack about not having paid the electricity bill but none came.

"Delays?" Syed questioned.

"Gorilla's on the line at Wootton Bassett."

Syed gave a small laugh.

"Damn that travelling zoo."

Christian unzipped his jacket and turned to hang it up.

"Damn it to hell. Actually it was a signal failure, and then a defective thing on the tube, I think the driver just wanted a pee, should have just done it out the window, actually maybe not, live wire and all…"

He paused, aware that he was babbling

" I'm sorry I didn't ring to let you know I'd be late, my battery went flat. Something smells good."

Syed flapped his arm in the direction of the kitchen.

"I made your favourite."

"Aw. Did you? What is my favourite?"

"That which I have made. Is everything okay Christian? It's just, on the phone, you seemed a bit funny, distant.."

Syed fiddled anxiously with the corner of the table cloth.

Christian studied him, hovering beside the dining table, an acre of space between them. He took a step forward.

"Sy. It was agony. Whenever I heard your voice I wanted to tell them all to get stuffed and eat themselves to death. Watching them wheezing and puffing, thinking one week on a course at an overpriced hotel lifting some puny weights could wipe away a lifetime of business lunches. Lying all alone in that miserable, soulless room, free shower caps though, I stole some. Every night I wanted to talk dirty to you, but I knew I had to get enough sleep to give them their money's worth the next day, trying so hard not to imagine you, here, in our bed, failing and getting so hard. Thinking of you has that effect on me, and I did have to spend most of my time in track suit bottoms, which can be very unforgiving. I didn't want them all to know how much I cared."

"I thought you were having fun.." Syed lifted his eyes to meet Christian's gaze.

"I thought you were. Out with Tam, dinners with friends.."

"Just trying to make the time go faster."

Christian took another step closer.

"It bloody dragged. I feel as if I've been gone a year. They asked me back for another one next month, double the money."

A glimmer of unhappiness passed fleetingly across Syed's features.

"Well done, they must have liked what you did."

"I told them I wouldn't be able to make it, that I had something on."

Christian moved even nearer, now just a footstep away. Syed could feel his breath against his cheek.

"What's that then?" He whispered.

Christian hooked his fingers through Syeds belt and pulled him close, pressing up against him.

"You. I bought you a present."

Syed lifted his mouth to receive the kiss he had been waiting for, murmuring;

"Yes, I can feel it."


End file.
